Web design establishes brand values for businesses

A study at Carleton University in Canada suggests that customers make snap judgements on the quality of a company after less than a second looking at their web sites.

The research has considerable implications for professional companies in the catering equipment industry, which need to ensure that they make the right impression when people come to their sites.

The Carleton University research showed web sites to a study group for just half a second, which proved to be enough time for them to rate and rank the sites.

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Liverpool-based web design company E-Blueprint says that the research is important for all businesses. “The length of time people take to judge a website has huge implications,” said Nick Taylor, the company’s managing director.

“Their first impressions give way to a halo effect, so if they think the site looks good, they transfer that assessment to its functionality. It means we literally have milliseconds to persuade customers that sites are trustworthy, efficient, and can do what they want them to do, which is why a bespoke website design always works best,” he added.

E-Blueprint has a five-point plan for good design of web sites:

Know what you need to achieve. Use a task analysis system to work out the responses you want from a customer or client, and how to translate them into your site’s design.

Clean, consistent design focuses your customer’s attention on specific parts of the page, helping to ease them through the buying process.

At least 3-5 shots of your product – from different angles – help customers make potentially tricky online purchasing decisions.

Colour has a massive emotional effect. If people can only see the colours you use from a distance, they’ll already be making subconscious decisions about you and what you do.